An electrical junction box is a container for electrical wiring connections, usually intended to conceal them from sight and, to some extent, to eliminate tampering. In the electrical trade, junction boxes are often installed in buildings at points where electrical wires are to be connected to each other or to electrical components such as sockets, switches, electrical outlets, or the like. A junction box typically takes the form of a small metal or plastic container or compartment having at least one open wall, that provides access to the interior of the junction box and which may be covered by a removable junction box cover, and having entries or apertures defined in one or more other walls of the box, to allow electrical wiring to be brought into the interior of the box. A junction box is installed at the point where an electrical connection is desired, usually within the wall or ceiling of a building, by nailing or screwing the junction box to a stud or other support within the wall or ceiling. Typically, fastener apertures are provided in one or more of the walls of the junction box, to receive the nails or screws and thus facilitate mounting the junction box in a desired position.
Electrical wiring is brought into an electrical junction box by extending the wiring through an entry point wiring aperture in a wall of the junction box into the junction box interior. For a metal junction box, these wiring apertures are formed typically by punching circular apertures of the desired size through the metal walls of the junction box. Multiple such apertures may thus be formed in multiple walls of the junction box in order to make many wiring entry points available at various positions around the junction box. In forming the wiring apertures, the walls of the metal junction box typically are punched so that a metal “knockout” remains in place covering the aperture, but remains attached to the wall of the junction box only by a small piece of metal. A selected knockout is removed to open a wiring aperture in the junction box by pushing, pulling, twisting, or otherwise moving the knockout, typically using a tool, such as pliers, to break the remaining connection between the knockout and the junction box wall. Thus, open wiring apertures are formed in the junction box only where needed for wiring to enter the junction box. The remaining potential wiring apertures remain covered by knockouts, so that the junction box does not have large holes in it that are not occupied by wiring.
Since it is desirable to secure electrical wiring to the junction box at its point of entry, connectors have been developed to join the wiring and the junction box together at the point of entry, to prevent the wiring from being pulled easily from the junction box. Since various forms of wiring may be used in an electrical wiring project (e.g., including flexible metal-clad or armored cable, flexible metal conduit, rigid plastic or metal conduit, etc.), various different types of connectors have been developed for securing such wiring to a junction box at the point of entry. Typically such connectors are formed to have a threaded end. The connector is mounted to the junction box by extending the threaded end of the connector through an open wiring aperture in the junction box wall into the interior of the junction box, with the main body of the connector positioned on the outside of the junction box. A threaded ring is threaded onto the threaded end of the connector positioned within the junction box and tightened such that the junction box wall is pinched between the connector body and the threaded ring, thereby to secure the connector to the junction box. Typically the threaded ring is provided with indentations or extensions formed on the outer periphery thereof, to facilitate pushing on the ring at the periphery using a screw driver or other tool in order to tighten the threaded ring more securely.
The foregoing arrangement for running electrical wiring into a junction box can be inconvenient and difficult to perform. The steps of removing a knockout, selecting a wiring connector, and mounting the wiring connector on the junction box can be time consuming and typically require the use of one or more tools, often requiring that an electrician or other installer pick items up, set them down, switch them from hand to hand, etc., which can rapidly grow tedious and annoying. Moreover, in many instances, often where the junction box is being mounted in existing construction, but also sometimes in new construction, this operation must be performed within tight confines (e.g., within a small hole in a wall), or even “blind” (i.e., by touch). Furthermore, these steps must be repeated for each wiring connection before the wiring can be run into the junction box. Additionally, such an operation typically requires the installer to have several different types of wiring connectors, for several different types of wiring, readily at hand. This may require the installer to dig though connectors of various types, that inevitably have become mixed together, in order to find one of the desired type to install on the junction box.